ie ooalig >>> the republican party will make history just after president obama's state of the union address next tuesday night. republican congressional leaders announced today they've picked senator and possible 2016 presidential candidate, marco rubio, to give the gop response to the president. we're told senator rubio will give two different versions of the response, a taped version in spanish, a live one in english. all that is a first. let's discuss, joining us now, the buzzfeed editor, ben smith, who interviewed senator rubio just last night, and cnn national political correspondent, jim acosta, who's covered senator rubio extensively. were you surprised by this? >> no, i mean, at this point, nothing about him is surprising. i mean, it's his first year in the senate, he's the youngest member of the caucus, in a body where usually you really have to wait a lot of time before you have to do anything, and he's effectively the party's leader on the most important policy issue they're dealing with this year, immigration. >> and the fact that you confirmed this, jim, he's going to b